"Low Rider" is a song written by American funk band War and producer Jerry Goldstein, which appeared on their album Why Can't We Be Friends?, released in 1975. It reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart and peaked at number 7 on the Pop Singles chart.
According to the All Music Guide review of the song, "the lyric takes the cool image of the low rider â€" the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-rodding classic cars â€" and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle". The song's most distinguishable feature is its driving bass line, which is present for nearly all of the song. It also ends with a siren-like noise that then becomes a saxophone solo.
The vocal is by the band's brass player, Charles Miller.
Personnel
Low Riders: The Movie - A film by Mark Steffen When four homies cruise the hood in an outrageous low rider, anything can happen.
Taken from album credits:
- Howard Scott â€" guitar, percussion, vocals
- B.B. Dickerson â€" bass, percussion, vocals
- Lonnie Jordan â€" organ, piano, timbales, percussion, vocals
- Harold Brown â€" drums, percussion, vocals (credit missing from LP cover)
- Papa Dee Allen â€" conga, bongos, percussion, vocals
- Charles Miller â€" clarinet, alto, tenor and baritone saxes, percussion, vocals
- Lee Oskar â€" harmonica, percussion, vocals
Cover versions
The song has been covered by many artists, including the following:
Sampling
- "Low Rider" was also significantly sampled by The Beastie Boys for their track "Slow Ride" on the 1986 album Licensed to Ill.
- "Low Rider" was sampled by L'Trimm on their song also titled "Low Rider".
- "Low Rider" was sampled by The Offspring in the remix version of "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy), and also was featured on the song "Original Prankster" as the rhythm is based off this song and uses the cowbell section
- "Low Rider" was sampled by Tito & Tarantula on the track "Bullets From a Gun".
- The song "Jorge Regula" by The Moldy Peaches borrowed the main riff from "Low Rider".
- Sublime sampled the riff of "Low Rider" in the song "Foreman Freestyle" on disc 2 of Everything Under the Sun.
- The song "Surfin Buena Park" by The Ziggens borrowed the main riff from "Low Rider".
- The ending siren of Low Rider was heard in "GDFR" by Flo Rida.
- The song "Silence Is Talking" by Reverend and The Makers borrowed the main riff from "Low Rider"
- The song "Lies" by the Thompson Twins uses an almost identical bassline
In popular culture
The song has been featured in eighteen movies, including Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke, Colors, Blood in Blood Out, Friday, A Gnome Named Gnorm, A Knight's Tale, Robots, 21 Grams, Dazed and Confused, Paulie, Beverly Hills Ninja, A Knight's Tale, the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds, The Young Poisoner's Handbook, Love Potion No. 9, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, The Internship and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
"Low Rider" is the theme song for George Lopez, Lopez Tonight, and for its titular star's stand up comedy appearances. At the 2007 ALMA Awards, George Lopez called this song, "The Chicano National Anthem", and performed it live.
"Low Rider" is featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (playing on Master Sounds 98.3), Skate 2, Skate It, Driver: Parallel Lines, MLB 08: The Show, Rock Band 3 and George Lopez: Driveway Bowling.
"Low Rider" is mentioned in That '70s Show in the episode "Sparks", when the lyrics are inscribed on Eric's wedding ring to Donna.
"Low Rider" is featured in the Misfits "Episode Six" of the first series, when Nathan uses it to protect himself from Rachel.
"Low Rider" is featured briefly in a cutaway in the Family Guy spoof of Return of the Jedi called "It's A Trap" when Peter Griffin as Han Solo pulls up at some traffic lights driving the Millennium Falcon.
"Low Rider" is featured in The Simpsons episode "A Midsummer's Nice Dream" when Homer goes on tour with Cheech.
"Low Rider" is featured in a 2014 advertisement for the drug Crestor, as well as in older ads for both the Canadian bank CIBC and the British food Marmite.
The song ran on the 7 December 2016 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, while Pilobolus performed acts in the form of silhouettes.
The song appears in a 2016 TV commercial for ESPN's SportsCenter.